Napoleonic legacy in Restoration Rome: the case-study of the Études statistiques translation by the Prefect de Tournon

Abstract

The article focuses on the publication of the Translation of the Études statistiques sur Rome written by the former prefect de Tournon, in 1832. The work, published in France one year before, is translated and reviewed in the “Giornale arcadico” by C. L. Morichini, a scholar and apologist. The aim of the article is to analyse two main aspects of this case-study: first, to shed light on conservative journals in early 19th-century papal Rome that have been little explored; secondly, to reconceptualise the links between the Napoleonic period and the Restoration from the point of view of the legacy in governmental skills. In the context of a radical change of political culture, the continuities in some governing practices show a complex relationship between the papal ruling class and Napoleonic expertise.